A California couple honeymooning in Hawaii said a snorkeling party left them in the ocean for more than an hour, eventually forcing them to swim to shore.
Elizabeth Webster and her husband, Alexander Burckle, detailed the September 23, 2021 ordeal in a federal lawsuit filed last month. The couple were among 44 passengers who boarded from the port of Lahaina at 10 a.m. for Sail Maui’s Lanai shoreline snorkeling tour, according to the lawsuit.
The group was scheduled to return to port around 3 p.m.
The couple said in the lawsuit that the captain informed everyone that the ship would remain anchored in place for about an hour before moving to a second location. Webster and Burckle said the captain did not give a specific time when everyone should return to the ship.
The 44 passengers entered the water around 10:50 a.m. Burckle and his wife, both experienced divers who had been to Maui several times, swam north on the captain’s instructions.
Throughout the excursion, the passengers returned to the ship at different times, the lawsuit says.
At around 11:50 a.m., Burckle and Webster began to head back to the boat. The lawsuit said that the water had begun to chop and after about 15 minutes of swimming, the couple realized that they had «still not made any progress towards the boat.»
“The water was choppy and Plaintiffs began swimming more aggressively toward the Vessel,” the lawsuit stated. «At approximately 12:20 p.m., after another 15 minutes (approximately) of aggressive swimming, the vessel was clearly further away from the plaintiffs than when they last checked.»
The couple signaled that they were in trouble and called for help in the direction of the boat without success. The ship then moved to her second location.
Burckle and his wife tried to swim in the direction the boat was moving, but the water was getting deeper, according to the lawsuit. They began to panic as they struggled to «swim in ocean conditions,» he said.
The couple, half a mile offshore, feared drowning.
“The plaintiffs realized that the vessel had left them and would not return for them, and they decided that their only option to survive at that point was to return to shore,” the lawsuit says. «The plaintiffs were extremely fearful and nervous about the decision because they were explicitly told in the safety briefing not to swim to Lanai and that there were shallow reefs in the area.»
The couple washed ashore around 1 p.m., the lawsuit said, noting they were dehydrated and fatigued. They received help from a resident on the island.
The lawsuit claims that a passenger on the boat tried to tell a crew member that Burckle and his wife had swum farther out into the ocean during the excursion, but the crew member allegedly told the passenger that they had returned.
The document also accused the crew of miscounting everyone who had returned from diving. During an initial count, a crew member counted 42 passengers. The crew member did a second count and reportedly counted 44 passengers, however people on the tour said they were all walking and were not told to stay put while the crew member counted.
Burckle and Webster could not be reached at the phone numbers listed for them. They are suing for negligence and emotional distress.
Sail Maui did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.